My Life With Corpses - Wylene Dunbar

I read this in 2006 and recently found my review that I had written right after I finished reading it:

my book is goood. i explained the theory of the book to james today and he seem pretty interested in it. y'all know i'm reading my life with corpses, right? the theory goes like this:

people die, every day, and they still live. in fictional theory, you have a corpse inside you and it's waiting to come out. people are walking around you all the time but they've already died. Literally, they have died and become corpses, however only the narrator sees them for what they are. But they still function, still living the life they know, they don't usually know they are dead.

the narrator is "dying" ie. seeing her corpse more prominently then before (i've had too much to drink and I still like big words!!). the only way to push your corpse back is to live. metaphorically, it's excellent. how many people do you know who have mentally died but their bodies keep functioning?? if you go about your daily life without passion, are you dead?

it's really a great book and has so many good passages (which i share below). But, as we've already established, i am interested in death and the way people handle it, so this book may not be for everyone. death is obviously a big part of the plot.

"Good. This evening I need a god." (i would just like a god that i could believe in not to tear me apart for fun and games.)

"..of course, it was easy to be "faithful" when your definition excluded one-night stands and anything done out of town."

"..that when we harm another on purpose, the execution of our intent can form a vector from us to the other, forcing a part of our life down its line to be destroyed as well." (that kills any chance of revenge...)

"I no longer needed what he had once been willing to give me. I had unexpected new nourishment for the fragment of life that had survived." (for people trying to suck the life out of you. some part of you can still hang on and fight.)

"My thinking was this: if I simply turn around and walk back, and if I do that every time I come to the brink, won't that save me?" (that's my theory as well. so far, i've been able to turn around and walk back.)

"When walking blind you might, for instance, come to a brink already occupied by another and that other might be waiting there with no better purpose than to throw you off." (oh yes. i know people like this. they are "dying" and willing to sacrifice you to save themselves.)

"There are those who never get enough [life] no matter how much they use up and, so, they grab and take life without reciprocation - the stealers.."

"..but it seems that regardless of where we go, we are, as far as cause and effect are concerned, all in exactly the same spot."

"We need other people to live and, yet, they might well be killing us, all at the very same time."

"We are all carrying our corpses with us, ready for the memorial service."

death isn't a morose topic if you approach it right.

half a bottle of wine later and i feel the need for a bubble bath.